Encountering Education through Existential Challenges and Community

Encountering Education through Existential Challenges and Community
Author: Giles Barrow
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 216
Release: 2023-08-11
Genre: Education
ISBN: 100092954X

Directly inspired by Indian British activist Satish Kumar’s 2013 seminal work ‘Soil, Soul and Society’, this book rethinks education in line with thoughts around the current climate crisis, the purpose of education in a post-pandemic world, and the mental health of children, teachers and youth across societies. Acknowledging the realities of a world battling with the after effects of COVID-19, the author envisions a future for education that realises real-world solutions to contemporary existential, ecological and societal challenges that might otherwise be limited to an imaginary or idealist space. Offering a novel approach through a combination of narrative-based inquiry and auto-ethnographic study, the book provides a synthesis of ideas from both Kumar and political philosopher Hannah Arendt not usually linked to debates in sustainability education. Ultimately providing a critique of a predominantly Western-orientated, global education movement, this interdisciplinary book will appeal to scholars, researchers, and post-graduate students involved in education theory and the philosophy of education, as well as indigenous and sustainability education more broadly.

Retuning Education: Bildung and Exemplarity Beyond the Logic of Progress

Retuning Education: Bildung and Exemplarity Beyond the Logic of Progress
Author: Morten Timmermann Korsgaard
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 207
Release: 2024-04-04
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1040015301

This book responds to the need for new ways of defining the aims and forms of education, in an age that has seen the ideals of progress and growth lead the planet and its inhabitants to the brink of extinction. Arguing that contemporary ideas of performance and accountability counter "the heart" of education, the book calls for a retuning of education that encourages the younger generation to study objects and ideas for their own sake, rather than to appease established and conventional notions in society – therefore stepping into a common space of reflection and study. The chapters examine why and how we educate, and offer the alternative of engaging with educational questions, not determined by the logic of progress and growth but with an objective of creating a relation to the world around us. Using the works of Hannah Arendt combined with the tradition of Allgemeine Pädagogik to argue for a new conception of Bildung, the book encourages a method that emphasises outrospection over introspection. Ultimately questioning modern-day education, the book redirects and retunes education away from being wholly concerned with achievement and growth, and will therefore be of interest to students, researchers and academics in the fields of philosophy of education, education and curriculum studies, education policy and politics, and sociology of education.

Young Children’s Existential Encounters

Young Children’s Existential Encounters
Author: Zoi Simopoulou
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 246
Release: 2019-02-28
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 3030108414

This book is a psychoanalytic observation of five children’s existential encounters in their ordinary life at the nursery. It is among the first within psychosocial literature to go beyond adult experiences and explore the existential in young children’s lives as it plays out in their everydayness in symbolic and sensory articulations and in relationship with others; including with the author as someone who arrived looking for it. The author offers analysis in the form of a writing inquiry into meaning, by means of an on-going movement between the self and the other, the interior and the exterior, and psychoanalytic and existential-phenomenological ideas. This is illustrated through a kaleidoscopic account of May, Nadia, Edward, Baba and Eilidhs’ encounters with nothingness, strangeness, ontological insecurity, death and selfhood as these emerged in the time they spent with the author embodying different forms – from concrete objects to dreams – exemplifying an attunement to existential ubiquity. With its relational ground, this work suggests the potential for adults – including researchers, therapists, trainees, educators and parents – to attune to their own existential encounters as a path to understanding those of children.

School Governance in Global Contexts

School Governance in Global Contexts
Author: Nicholas Sun Keung PANG
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 254
Release: 2021-12-28
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1000510263

The edited volume provides multiple lens to view school governance practices, exploring its modernization, ethical review, future trend, as well as the reciprocal influence of educational policy. Drawing on a wide-spread experience in the field of education governance from leading scholars, emerging scholars, doctoral research students and school principals, this book includes insights from 11 countries and economies across four continents: Asia, Europe, North America and Oceanic. Most of them are high achievers in the OECD’s PISA 2018 worldwide ranking in mathematics, science and reading. The book not only lifts to the forefront school governance educational thinking, but also acknowledges their complex evolution, especially under the current impact of COVID-19 Pandemic. This book will be of interest to academics, professionals and policymakers in education and school governance, and any scholars who engage in historical studies of education and debates about educational governance.

Creating an online community of action researchers

Creating an online community of action researchers
Author: Josef Huber
Publisher: Council of Europe
Total Pages: 180
Release: 2017-01-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9287184127

A community of practice of the professionals of the education around the values and the principles of the Council of Europe. The Council of Europe’s Pestalozzi Programme promotes the message of the Organisation and its values – human rights, democracy and the rule of law – in the practice of education (formal, non-formal and informal) and aims to support member states in including these ideals in their education systems. Basing its approach to professional development firmly on social constructivism and social constructionism, it invests in educators who create new practices. This book represents an example of a transformational enterprise in which several practitioners from different parts of Europe gather in the Pestalozzi Programme community of practice and set out to learn how to become action researchers. While many books focus on how to carry this out, this publication is action research in action. In addition, it features examples of how participants can use online social platforms and affordable web applications in their collaboration and learning practices.

The Theologically Formed Heart

The Theologically Formed Heart
Author: Warner M. Bailey
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 299
Release: 2014-09-10
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1625641915

The Theologically Formed Heart invites the reader to consider the role of theology in the formation of virtues and passions, and, conversely, the role of virtues and passions in understanding Scripture, theology, and living a Christian life. The essays in this volume are offered in appreciation of the teaching, scholarship, and service to the church and world of Professor of Theology David J. Gouwens. They are organized in three sections: theological reflections, Reformed theology in service to the church, and studies in the thought of Soren Kierkegaard. Four important issues are explored from multiple perspectives: the Church's coming to terms with religious pluralism in mission, inter-religious dialogue, theological education, and ecclesial life; the gospel's invitation to welcome communities of difference; Reformed aesthetics in Calvin's rhetoric and in contemporary hymnody; and Kierkegaard's contribution to theology and ecclesial practice. The aims of the book go beyond academic confines. Through reading the different essays, a personality will emerge who illustrates a life of scholarship that yields itself gladly to the God made known in Jesus Christ. Thus, beyond imparting new information, the book may inspire its readers to their own practice of theologically forming their hearts.

The Importance of Teaching Social Issues

The Importance of Teaching Social Issues
Author: Samuel Totten
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 288
Release: 2014-08-07
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1317657667

John Dewey’s My Pedagogical Creed outlined his beliefs in regard to teaching and learning. In this volume, prominent contemporary teacher educators such as Diana Hess, Geneva Gay and O.L. Davis follow in Dewey’s footsteps, articulating their own pedagogical creeds as they relate to educating about social issues. Through personal stories, each contributor reveals the major concerns, tenets, and interests behind their own teaching and research, including the experiences underlying their motivation to explore social issues via the school curriculum. Rich with biographical detail, The Importance of Teaching Social Issues combines diverse voices from curriculum theory, social studies education, science education, and critical theory, providing a unique volume relevant for today’s teachers and education scholars.

Social Ecology

Social Ecology
Author: David Wright
Publisher: Hawthorn Press
Total Pages: 485
Release: 2013-03-27
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1907359311

Social ecology provides a holistic framework for change, based on the interrelationships between the personal, social, environmental and 'spiritual'. It helps understand how we got here, and how to realise more sustainable, caring futures. Students from all disciplines can use this valuable resource to help to enrich their learning with insights and principles from social ecology.